The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided in this application is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Flap gates are not new, but the field is underdeveloped. These relatively simple devices have not been subject to much new thinking, leaving open many opportunities for development of new, inventive concepts.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,624 to Steinke describes an angled hinge on a flap gate system, but it fails to contemplate other configurations that deviate from what is currently known. It fails to consider a configuration with multiple flaps, it does not consider a need for different shapes of the flaps to achieve different effects or to fit into uniquely shaped spaces, and so on.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,947 to Buchanan et al. teaches a flap gate having a top-mounted hinge that allows the gate to open when sufficient head pressure exists behind the flap. It teaches several other mechanisms that are simple plays on that same head pressure concept. The patent fails to consider other advances that can be made in the state of the art outside of this basic concept.
These and all other extrinsic materials discussed in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided in this application, the definition of that term provided in this application applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
It has yet to be appreciated that flap gates can be designed using different flap configurations to accommodate a wider variety of applications. Thus, there is still a need in the art for improved flap gates to facilitate water flow and drainage.